I know. No new signings by mid-June. It's simply not good enough. I mean the new season is only weeks away. If we don't sign someone in the next week I think Rafa will walk. We're a laughing stock and Parry is the chief clown.
The new contracts to the best players was the main priority. We can't move forward without tying them all up to long deals and having them all happy. Why sign a great player only to lose Alonso? Or Gerrard, heaven forbid, after 2005. I don't know what the wages for the four are, but combined I'd guess it works out at several million extra pounds a season over the next four or five years.
The fact that La Liga finishes today is crucial. None of our players - including Gonzalez and Dudek, who've been linked with Spanish teams - have actually gone, either. For the same reason, no doubt.